Statistics worksheet — GCSE Higher

1.A school has 1,000 pupils. A student wants to estimate how many of them walk to school, so she asks 8 pupils in her own class. She says her sample is large enough to give a reliable estimate for the whole school. Is she right? Give a reason for your answer.

2.A scatter graph shows the midday temperature, x °C, and the number of ice creams sold at a seaside kiosk, y. The line of best fit is y = 3x − 20. Give a reason why the y-intercept of this line of best fit is not a sensible estimate of the number of ice creams sold.

3.The times, t minutes, taken by 80 people to travel to work are grouped like this: 0 ≤ t < 10, 6 people; 10 ≤ t < 20, 14 people; 20 ≤ t < 30, 25 people; 30 ≤ t < 40, 20 people; 40 ≤ t < 50, 15 people. Work out the cumulative frequency for t < 30.

4.The heights, h cm, of 80 plants are grouped like this: 0 ≤ h < 20, 14 plants; 20 ≤ h < 40, 22 plants; 40 ≤ h < 50, 16 plants; 50 ≤ h < 80, 28 plants. Write down the class interval that contains the lower quartile.

5.The mean mass of four parcels is 17 kg. Three of the parcels have masses 12 kg, 16 kg and 18 kg. Work out the mass of the fourth parcel.

6.A sports shop in Cardiff sold 40 pairs of football boots last month: 4 pairs of size 6, 5 pairs of size 7, 8 pairs of size 8, 13 pairs of size 9 and 10 pairs of size 10. The manager will order 40 pairs for next month and wants as many pairs as possible to be in a size customers will buy. Work out the mean size and the modal size, and write down which of the two he should use.

7.Write down the statement that correctly describes the difference between correlation and causation.

8.The number of pets owned by each of 19 pupils in a class is recorded: 0 pets — 7 pupils, 1 pet — 3 pupils, 2 pets — 4 pupils, 3 pets — 5 pupils. Work out the median number of pets.

9.Four pairs of variables are listed below. Write down the pair that you would expect to show negative correlation.

10.The weekly wages of the five people who work at a small garage in Norwich are £420, £440, £460, £480 and £1,500. Write down which average better describes a typical wage at this garage, and give a reason for your answer.

11.A scatter graph shows the number of days, x, that each of 16 tomato plants was watered and its height, y cm. The line of best fit has equation y = 1.5x + 4. Write down what the 1.5 in this equation tells you about the plants.

12.A café in York counts the number of customers in each of the nine hours it is open on one day: 4, 4, 4, 11, 13, 15, 18, 22 and 25. The owner says that a typical hour has about 4 customers, because 4 is the mode. Is the owner right? Give a reason for your answer.

13.In a histogram of the distances, d metres, thrown by some athletes, the bar covering 20 ≤ d < 60 has a constant frequency density of 1.8 per metre. Estimate the number of throws of at least 20 metres but less than 35 metres.

14.A box plot for the ages of 40 members of a gym is drawn from this five-number summary: minimum 15, lower quartile 22, median 29, upper quartile 38, maximum 61. Work out the interquartile range shown by this box plot.

15.A school has 1200 pupils. A teacher wants to take a random sample of 60 of them. Write down which of these methods gives a random sample.